Thursday, January 3, 2008

The passing of a friend
and some retro photos

I'd like to note the passing of a friend and fellow cross country skier Anton Wopereis a few days ago on Mt Cook.

We went back a long way to a time when we were doing big trips back-to-back, and we'd always tend to cross paths coming and going from huts, or noting in hut books that we were there just days or hours apart. It was subsequently a joy to me that we ended up living in the same town, and hanging out x/c skiing together. Everything good that was said about him in the numerous press releases was so true.

As a reminder of those old days and since it is a new year, here are some early photos [scanned] of trips I did in that other age:

Alistair on Mt Hooker...

Myself on Glenmary [Mt Hooker is the pointy peak in the back ground and we'd just spent 10 days trying to climb it, but weather beat us, so we were pretty fit on this Glenmary day - a peak closer to home in the Lake Ohau area]...

Julie on the Quarter Deck on the approach to Mt Aspiring...

Some really early stuff: That's me on the left with the [late] Michael Nother and David McNulty. Mike lived too close to the edge in life and finally succumbed some years later, and then later again David got buried in an avalanche while guiding and never made it out. We're enjoying a fly camp here in Canyon Crk. in the Ahuriri - that's a radio aerial across the photo...

The above Canyon Crk. trip turned into a really tough one weather wise. That's me in the background in my new swani [which leaked and weighed a ton as I recall], and David again. We're looking serious as we're about to go up for a couple of very hard nights living under a tent fly in wind and snow storms. I think we were pretty silly in one way, but we learnt a lot in this style of experiencing small mountains in bad conditions. We were taught to always ensure all our experiences were small ones and thus survivable!